In tape handling devices it is necessary to have a reel which is "taking up," or winding the tape that is coming off the supply reel. Very often, in the prior art, the take up reel and the supply reel are not distinguishable because each acts to either "take up" or "supply" depending on which way the tape is being run. It is also true, in the prior art, that both reels are often located in the same housing, such as a cassette.
However there are some applications in the prior art where the supply reel is provided as an entity unto itself and the tape thereon is pulled therefrom onto an "empty" take up reel. A film on a motion picture projector is a typical example. Other uses of this kind are well known. In the prior art, with such arrangements, there has always been a certain amount of human factor involved. For instance in a motion picture projector arrangement, the film is threaded along a group of sprocketed drivers and idlers. In some other arrangements, the tape is pulled from the supply reel and "grabbed" by a vacuum port on the take up reel. In another arrangement the tape is pulled from the supply reel and hand loaded onto a take up reel whereat there is a sheath. The sheath in response to movement of the take up reel, operates to squeeze the tape and hold it in position while the tape winds on itself.
The present system provides a means for a minimum of human intervention in making ready a system to pull tape from a supply reel onto a take up reel.